In the field of entertainment artists sometimes work with a juggling torch such as a juggling club or the like that has a wick in which fuel is absorbed so that fuel is lit and permitted to burn while the torch is handled wherein the artist's act is performed in a room that is dark or has moderate lighting. The term juggling torch is intended to include all types of torches or devices that have a wick into which a burning fuel is absorbed and that is handled by the artist. Examples of such torches are for example a juggling torch, a “poi”, a “devil stick”, a rod or a “swing” torch. Such torches have their own normal pattern throwing motion but can, in general, be thrown, fly in circles, be swung, be circulated etc.
A previously known practical example of such a juggling torch include a juggling club that includes a bar that in a middle area of its length has a heavy body and that has a handle at one of its end and has at its other end a diameter of about 2.5 cm, carry a wick of a fiber material such as Kevlar and/or cotton, wherein the wick has the shape of a band that is wound about the end of the bar along a axial distance of 6-7 cm, wherein the wick has a radial thickness of about 1 cm. The wick is dipped in fuel, such as lamp oil, Kerosene or n-paraffin. The amount of fuel that can be absorbed in such wick has a relatively short burning time. It is in practice difficult to achieve a longer burning time with the help of a bigger wick.
One object of the invention is to design a juggling torch that provides a substantially longer burning time.
The object is achieved with the invention.
The invention is defined in the appended independent claim.
The design variations of the invention are defined in the appended dependent claims.
An important feature of the invention is that the juggling torch includes a container for fuel and that the container is in fuel communication with the wick via one or many channels. Preferably, the container is arranged in the part of the club, one which the wick is arranged, so that a juggling motion of the torch results in that the fuel in the container is conveyed through the channel to and into the wick. The wick permits air therethrough at least when the club is in relative rest so that air may be sucked in through the wick or between the wick and its support and in via the connection to the container, to eliminate the under-pressure that otherwise occurs in the container as a result of the removal of fuel from the container to the wick.
The channel or the channels can have the shape of one or many radial bores at the bottom part of the container so that the channels exit at the lengthwise middle area of the wick.
In one embodiment of the invention the torch can be built from an elongate section of a tube that at its one end has a tight lid for fuel addition purposes. In the other end of the tube, at a distance from its end that corresponds to half of the length of the wick, is a tight bottom that defines a bottom of a container between the bottom and the lid. The channels are formed by the bores through the wall of the tube in the container adjacent of its bottom. The bores that each has a diameter of 1 mm is in practice suitable for a juggling torch that has a wick of 7 cm length and a thickness of 1 cm when the outer diameter of the tube is 22 mm.
A mid-portion of the length of the tube section may be surrounded by a body attached thereto that is rotation symmetrical to the axis of the tube and that suitably has a bore going therethrough that corresponds to the outer diameter of the tube. At the short end, the tube is surrounded by a graspable sleeve.
As a result of the invention the torch can have a burning time that is ten times longer than the burning time of a torch that solely relies on saturating the wick with fuel.
The flow resistance that the channels must provide for the fuel flow to the wick must naturally be adjusted to the characteristics of the wick and the fuel so that the fuel that during the juggling is conveyed from the container through the channels into the wick corresponds to the fuel flow that is burning at the wick.
Based on a conventional wick of Kevlar/cotton yarn, that has an inner diameter of 22 mm, an outer diameter of 42 mm and an axial length of about 65 mm, it has been shown that the juggling torch, that is built from an aluminum tube with a length of 500 mm and a 22 mm diameter satisfy this requirement when two channels extend through the tubing wall (wall thickness 1 mm) and has a diameter of about 1 mm and the fuel has the mentioned characteristics.
The invention is described below with reference to the appended drawings.